Boston College Athletics
Football Team Headed To San Francisco
November 30, 2003 | Football
Nov. 30, 2003
The Boston College football team has accepted an invitation to play in the second annual Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl, Athletics Director Gene DeFilippo announced on Sunday afternoon. The Eagles (7-5), who will be playing in a postseason bowl game for an unprecedented fifth consecutive year, will meet Colorado State of the Mountain West Conference in the New Year's Eve game, which will kick off at 7:30 p.m. PST (10:30 p.m. EST) at Pacific Bell Park on the San Francisco waterfront.
"We are thrilled to accept this invitation," DeFilippo says. "I want to congratulate Tom O'Brien and our team for making it to their fifth consecutive bowl. Our team will be playing for their fourth consecutive bowl win and their 40th victory in the past five years. I think this speaks volumes about the job Coach O'Brien, his staff, and our players have done."
"We're very excited to invite BC to face Colorado State in the second annual Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl," says Gary Cavalli, Executive Director of the bowl. "BC brings a lot of very positive things to our bowl game. They have a great football tradition, they have a strong national following, they have a strong alumni base in the (San Francisco) Bay area, and they bring a huge TV market.
"Off the field, BC's graduation record is the best in the country. I have a great deal of respect for the football program and the job Tom O'Brien has done there."
In their 1,000th game of intercollegiate football, the Eagles defeated then 12th-ranked Virginia Tech, 34-27, on November 22 in Blacksburg to finish the regular season 7-5. It marked the first time in BC football history the Eagles have won seven or more games in each of five consecutive seasons.
"I know this football team is excited about the opportunity to play in this bowl game," O'Brien says. "San Francisco is a wonderful city, and Colorado State is a tremendous opponent. It was very important for our senior class to get this opportunity. They worked extremely hard for it. I think it's significant that our fifth-year seniors will have gone to bowl games five straight years. We'll have the opportunity to win our fourth, but we'll have to play awfully well against Colorado State to win the game.
"This is a great opportunity for our fans," O'Brien says. "The timing of the game is perfect. It's very important for our football program that we show that our fans will travel and support our football team."
Boston College records indicate there are some 6,777 BC alumni currently living in the state of California, 3,213 of them in the Northern California area.
"We encourage all our fans, whether they're in California, Colorado, Arizona, the Seattle area, or somewhere else on the West coast, and all our fans in the Boston area and along the East coast, to buy their tickets from us (at the BC ticket office) so that we can all sit together and show strong support for our football team," DeFilippo says.
Tickets will go on sale through the BC Ticket Office at a yet-to-be-determined time. For further information, please check daily postings on this Web site, or call the ticket office at 617-552-GoBC.
